Adoption brings disaster

I originally came out to relax, but unexpectedly I encountered something. Fortunately, it was not a big deal. I just need to investigate it clearly. If there is really an injustice, I can find a way to escape and rescue the person.

These things will be handled by Ah Da and the people in Zhenbei Palace, so I don't need to worry about them. So I arranged it and asked the store to send up some of their signature food.

The shop owner had originally teamed up with Li Er to seek my help. Now that he saw that I agreed, he naturally put in all his efforts to get the materials he had prepared long ago.

I also had a very enjoyable meal and then returned to the palace, so I won’t mention it anymore.

It is said that there are so many talented people in this palace that even a slap in the face can be used in so many different ways.

When I returned to Qianqiu Pavilion from outside the palace, the swelling on my face had subsided. The fingerprints that were clearly visible in the morning were now completely gone, as if it were a dream.

At this time, the Seventh Prince had already returned from the Imperial Concubine's place. Seeing me enter the pavilion, the Seventh Prince gestured, and soon the table was filled with all kinds of delicious food. It was truly luxurious.

Such extravagance, normally I would say that His Highness the Seventh Prince is wasteful, but yesterday I drank and caused trouble, and was punished by the Emperor. Now I feel guilty, so I just eat in silence and dare not say a word.

Seeing how ashamed I was, the Seventh Prince dismissed everyone, leaving only the two of us in the room. He said, "Drinking is a mistake, and you know how shameful it is."

I looked at the child in front of me who was not shorter than me, and had the illusion that I was being scrutinized by my leader. For a moment, I felt much weaker and couldn't speak clearly.

Seeing that I didn't say anything, His Highness the Seventh Prince put down his chopsticks and stared at me. I was embarrassed to turn away, but I felt that it was too childish, so I turned back and pretended to be indifferent, saying, "It's not because of drinking. It's clearly because I talked nonsense about the immortals that I got beaten."

"I learned my lesson after being beaten. You always taught me to be careful with my words and actions in this palace. Don't you understand that walls have ears?"

The Seventh Prince advised me kindly, and I lowered my head and responded in a low voice.

Seeing that my voice was still a little hoarse, the Seventh Prince thoughtfully poured me a bowl of soup and said, "Don't drink this wine anymore. If you weren't drunk, you wouldn't have contradicted your father and received this beating."

It is said that no one has ever cared about me as much as the Seventh Prince. My nose suddenly felt a little sore and tears couldn't help but well up in my eyes.

I couldn't cry in front of His Majesty the Seventh Prince; that would be too detrimental to my dignity. I lowered my head and said in a muffled voice, "I know, I know. I won't drink this wine anymore."

After saying that, I felt like crying even more, so I slammed my chopsticks on the table, pretended to be annoyed, and said, "I'm very tired today, I'm going to bed first."

After saying that, I quickly walked to the corner, secretly wiped away my tears, and blamed myself in my heart for being fragile and useless.

The Seventh Prince behind me didn't say much. He just picked up my bowl and drank the soup in it without me noticing.

It's not a lie when I say I'm very tired. After all, the carriage was bumpy when I left the palace today, and it was difficult to navigate through the reed marshes. I was really tired.

Ah Er was serving me today. He knew I was very tired, so when he saw I was going to rest, he quickly got some water and helped me wash my feet.

But I was really tired today, and I was hungover yesterday, so I was even more sleepy. I fell asleep while washing my feet.

I slept soundly, dreamlessly, until the next day, when the sun was already scorching my butt. I moved my still aching feet and muttered, "What should I do today?"

"You will lose weight if you don't practice for a day. Your Highness Qianqiu has to be more diligent in learning martial arts." The Taoist priest's joking voice came from the roof.

This made me feel a little embarrassed. It seemed that I had been practicing martial arts for three days and resting for two days recently. Compared with the diligence of His Highness the Seventh Prince, I was indeed a little tired.

I was also a little embarrassed, and said with a smile: "Master, what you are teaching me is that I have been a little lazy recently."

"Admitting one's mistakes is the best way to improve. Your Highness Qianqiu, your physique is not considered to be very good to begin with, and you are past the age of practicing martial arts. If you want to achieve some accomplishments in martial arts, you still need to be more diligent."

After saying this, Taoist Tianshu left quietly, as if he had never been there.

After being scolded by the Taoist priest, I was very embarrassed, so I decided not to go anywhere today and practice martial arts in the pavilion. So I ordered Er to help me wash up, and asked Chunyu to clean up the front yard. No more mention.

After I finished washing up, I was about to go practice martial arts, but I saw Ah Da come in to pay his respects.

When I saw him like that, I knew that the things I arranged yesterday must have come to fruition, so I dismissed everyone and sat on a chair to listen to his report.

This matter concerns Prince Gong. Although he is only the brother of Prince Gong's concubine, he still has to be careful in doing things.

Seeing that no one was around, Ah Da also came up and whispered, "Your Highness, the matter you ordered has been thoroughly investigated."

Although I was mentally prepared, I was still shocked by Ah Da's efficiency. I was a little skeptical and asked, "So fast, have you verified it?"

Ah Da was very capable. Upon hearing my question, he quickly handed over a file and said, "Everything has been verified. All the necessary witnesses and evidence are here. Your Highness, please review it."

Although I don't know how to investigate a case, the files that Ah Da presented to me were very clear and concise. Even though I knew nothing about it, I could still see the ins and outs of the matter at a glance.

I was shocked by what was written on the file and said in disbelief, "How did you manage to find out so much about such secrets in just one night?"

"These things aren't exactly secretive, and those people are not very careful. They confessed everything before they were tortured, so it was relatively easy to investigate."

Having said that, it's been so long, it's still not easy to investigate. I was shocked and still had some doubts.

Seeing that I was still a little skeptical, Ah Da continued, "There's no hiding anything in the capital. Let alone a murder on the street, even the privacy of a mansion wouldn't escape the eyes of the Northern Border Scouts."

"Hearing what you said, I think the Zhenbei Palace has a lot of leverage over the princes and ministers."

This was just a casual question, but it stumped Ah Da, who didn't know how to answer.

I wasn't in the mood to tease him, so I took out the jade token given to me by Prince Zhenbei and His Highness the Seventh Prince and waved it in front of Ah Da's eyes.

"Your Highness, I don't have any evidence against any of the princes or ministers, but as the art of war says, knowing both yourself and your enemy is the key to a hundred battles without danger. Your Highness is far away in the northern borders, so you must be aware of the movements in the capital."

Anyone who can gain a foothold in the capital must have his own intelligence network, so there is nothing to be surprised about.

I took a sip of tea and stopped dwelling on it. I continued, "Since I promised Li Er, if this is true, I must give them justice. You can handle this matter."

"Your Highness is kindhearted and would certainly not tolerate the suffering of the people. Yesterday, I investigated the matter and found a way to get that man out and send him home."

Ah Da didn't know if this treatment would please me, so he continued, "This father and son are also blessed by Your Highness. Judging from the old man's appearance, if he hadn't met Your Highness, he would have died in the past two days."

From Ah Da's tone, it sounded like getting the person out was an extremely easy task. I was also curious, so I said, "You can get the prisoner from the Dali Temple out just like that. You really have some skills."

Ah Da smiled and said, "I don't have any special abilities. I was just a jailer at the Dali Temple who came from the Northern Frontier Army. I went to the mass grave and found a similar corpse, swapped the person out, and then the jailer reported him dead from illness and threw him back into the mass grave."

Although I know that the lives of ordinary people in this world are extremely worthless, I didn't expect them to be so worthless. They die and that's it, just like a stray dog. Apart from the grief-stricken parents, wife and children, no one seems to care how this person died.

I still found it a bit hard to believe, so I asked, "A person died, and no one is investigating? People who just died or have been dead for a while can't stand being investigated."

Ah Da thought I was blaming him for not being careful, so he quickly said, "Your Highness, you're worrying too much. Let alone the Dali Temple, even in the Jingzhao prison, there are at least dozens of people who died for no reason every month. No one would bother to investigate. Besides, we've disguised the bodies, so it's impossible to tell who they are without a master of disguise."

After hearing this, I felt a little uncomfortable for some reason. I didn't know what to say for a moment, so I picked up the file and started reading it again.

The text on the file is emotionless, but in this refined text one can see the misery of the father and son who have been crying out to heaven and earth for the past few months with no help from anyone.

I know I can't do anything now. Prince Gong is in a high position and has great power. Let alone a small minister like me, it would not be easy even for Prince Zhenbei to touch Prince Gong. But I am still unwilling to let that bastard go.

"Go and find out all the bad things he has done."

Ah Da naturally knew what I meant. He widened his eyes, kowtowed repeatedly, and said, "Your Highness, Prince Gong is your Majesty's uncle. Your Highness, please think twice."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't do something like that." I shook the two jade tokens in my hand and said, "Just go ahead and investigate if I tell you to. Be discreet and don't let anyone else notice."

The military order was as heavy as a mountain, and Ah Da had no choice but to obey. "Your Highness, please be patient for a while. I will go and check it out right away."

I didn't react to what Ada said for a while. When I reacted, there were several fingerprints on the table.

I was filled with resentment and gritted my teeth as I said, "It seems he's done a lot of bad things. If that's the case, there's no need to investigate them all. Just get solid evidence for those who have committed heinous crimes that deserve death."

Any normal person would know what this meant. Ah Da was terrified when he heard it.

Ah Da crawled over to me and whispered, "Your Highness, we can't afford to offend that man. Since we've already rescued him, why bother investigating these things? It's just asking for trouble."

"Ada, you've been away from the North, and now you're so afraid of death?" I gritted my teeth and smiled coldly, "After all, the Seventh Prince and I are younger. I can't give you justice now, but can I give you justice in the future?"

Ah Da was a man of courage, but he was confused by his concern. After hearing this, he stopped trying to persuade her. He took the jade token from the Seventh Prince and left the palace without saying anything more.

After Ah Da left, I was still feeling anxious and was about to do something to vent my emotions when I heard the Taoist priest on the roof say, "Some things are not convenient to do in the temple, so it is much more convenient to let the heroes in the martial arts world do it."

The Taoist priest's voice startled me. It seems that the saying "walls have ears in the deep palace" is not just talk.

But then I thought about it and felt at ease. There was a Taoist priest guarding the roof, so even if there were other ears, they wouldn't be able to hear anything.

I chuckled and said, "Master, eavesdropping is not a glorious thing."

"I wasn't eavesdropping. You two were just being too loud. Besides, I'm on this roof every day. You were too careless."

I didn't argue with the Taoist priest about this, but simply said, "All under heaven belongs to the king, and all the people in the world are his subjects. Whether in the remote Jianghu or in the high court, everyone must abide by the Northern Shang Law. Don't break the law here."

"Those people committed murder, arson, and all sorts of other evil things, yet you don't punish them. Instead, you're here telling me about breaking the law and disobeying the law. In your eyes, justice delayed is justice denied."

"Don't I know that justice delayed is justice denied? But you killed him out of anger. What else can you do except exchange life for life?"

"Kill one man and save ten thousand; even if I die a hundred times, I will not complain."

"Master." I tried to soften my tone so that the Taoist master would calm down.

"I know that a hero like you naturally regards punishing evil and upholding justice as your duty. I also know that you cannot ignore such injustice before your eyes, but please think twice before you act. The best strategy is to take it slow and steady."

After hearing what I said, the Taoist priest not only did not calm down but became annoyed. He sneered and said, "Your Highness was born in a deep house and raised by women. There are some things you don't understand."

I wanted to persuade him, but the Taoist priest didn't give me the chance. He flew in through the window and tried to snatch the file.

Naturally, I didn't want the Taoist priest to take it away and cause trouble, so I started fighting with him.

I often practiced sparring with the Taoist priest. People outside didn't think much of it, and I didn't want others to know. I didn't call for help, and I could only withstand the Taoist priest's attacks by myself.

Most of my martial arts were taught by the Taoist priest, and the poisonous anaconda was far less useful than the Taoist priest's sword in the house. However, I was at a disadvantage after more than ten rounds. However, the Taoist priest did not want to hurt me because he wanted to seize the files.

Soon I was in a difficult situation. Seeing that the file was about to be snatched away by the Taoist priest, I rushed forward and took the Taoist priest's palm with my body. While the Taoist priest was stunned because of my injury, I smashed the file to pieces with my poisonous anaconda.

The Taoist priest was first stunned, then indignant, and finally looked at me in annoyance, then left in disgust and never mentioned it again.

As soon as the Taoist priest left, I sat up with difficulty, circulated my true energy, and found that I was not seriously injured. I think it was because the Taoist priest stopped in time that I was not seriously injured.

But I am very worried now. If the Taoist priest was not so stubborn, it would be better for me to be seriously injured.

I can't just ignore the Taoist priest, so I had to ask Er to bring all the files of Prince Gong, and wait until the Taoist priest gets into trouble, and then see if I can give him a chance to survive.

Predict what will happen in the future, and listen to the next decomposition.